After Southampton finished bottom of the Premier League pile at the close of the 2024/25 season, Saints fans would have anticipated that this was what rock bottom felt like for their team.
However, the situation playing out with Spygate feels even bleaker, with the Saints kicked out of the Championship playoffs - after reaching the final - due to being caught spying on teams during the season, including Middlesbrough, who they beat across two legs to reach Wembley.
It's been back-to-back seasons of misery for Saints fans, therefore, and with the news that several Southampton stars could be leaving St. Mary's behind in the summer, the future doesn't look any more promising.
Southampton fans will have to become used to widespread departures
Reports have already come to light that Daniel Peretz will be returning to his parent club, Bayern Munich, instead of staying put permanently.
This is an almighty blow, as Peretz looked to have finally been the reliable goalkeeper the Saints had been craving, having kept eight clean sheets during the regular season, despite joining mid-way through the campaign.
Will Southampton now have to fall back on Gavin Bazunu, who is far more error-prone than the Israel international?
In attack, too, Southampton will no doubt feel the wrath of the summer transfer window, as both Leo Scienza and Finn Azaz heartbreakingly call time on their South Coast stays, having collected a whopping 35 goal contributions last season in league action.
Losing this firepower is gutting, but neither the Brazlian or the Irishman will be content with Championship football for another season, when they have so much rumoured Premier League interest at their door.
Will the decimated attacking numbers open up an opportunity for Ben Brereton Diaz to finally shine at St. Mary's? He is an experienced EFL marksman after all, and he did bag seven league goals last season, on loan at Derby County.
There could even be one final chance handed to this major Saints flop to impress, despite returning to England off the back of a horrendous loan spell, which left his loan employers aghast with how bad he was.
One final chance for this Saints flop?
Southampton, if promotion had been won, would have washed their hands of Damion Downs.
Now, with a far more desolate future on the horizon, the American striker could be handed one final chance at Saints glory.
The 21-year-old cost the South Coast giants a colossal £7m last summer, after he bagged a promising ten goals for Koln in the 2 Bundesliga, so there's clearly a player in there somewhere, waiting to be unearthed.
Unfortunately for Downs, his 2025/26 season was a complete nightmare from start to finish, with 11 goalless appearances for his new employers, resulting in him being chucked out to Hamburg on loan.
Downs' awful 25/26 form:
Club | Games played | Goals scored |
|---|---|---|
Hamburg | 12 | 0 |
Southampton | 11 | 0 |
His campaign didn't get any better back in familiar surroundings in Germany, with another 12 games passing him by without a goal. Such a barren run of form has resulted in Hamburg not wanting to snap up Downs permanently, with a buy option around the £8m mark likely laughed at.
Where does Downs go from here?
Realistically, the best option would be to part ways with the dud for good if someone was willing to take a gamble on the 6-foot-4 marksman.
But, with the landscape at St Mary's now drastically different, heading into an uncertain summer, the one-time Koln poacher could breathe life into his Saints career unexpectedly.
After all, he is only 21 years of age, and he did cost a substantial sum of money, with the six-time USA international surely keen to right the wrongs of his sub-par start to life in England.
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